Calls to AT&T customer service sometimes pay off.

1. A new AT&T account for the iPhones;
2. The old account was cancelled;
3. The minutes were left behind.

Unhappy with losing the minutes, I called and learned that the old account was a business account and the new one was personal. Regardless, I argued, I should be able to keep my minutes. Without any hesitation, the lovely gal on the line told me that she could give me 1000, but she'd have to ask her manager about more. She text messages her manager (I kid you not) and the result is that we got 4000 of the minutes restored. Better than zero, and there's more. 

Because of the large number of accumulated minutes, I wasn't paying much attention to the minutes on the phone. Good thing I did, though, because the counter was reading low near the end of the month. I knew that we had called everyone we knew on these new gadgets, and that I was using it for most of my business activities, so I figured that I needed a plan with more minutes. I changed to the 1400 minute plan with minutes to spare, and forgot about it. I got the bill, and it claimed that I had gone over by ~150 minutes! The same call got the charges refunded.

I must say that the experience was pleasant and very rewarding, for me, anyway, and AT&T gets a thumbs up from me.